Joey
by rhapsodybree
Summary: Any child of Dean Gallagher and Lara Knight was always going to be a handful.


Disclaimer: I own nothing, except my own creations.

*****************

Joey Gallagher was one determined little lady.

There wasn't anything she wouldn't do, and those monkey bars were not going to get the better of her. She may only be three years old, but she was more than ready to tackle that playground monstrosity that was taunting her.

It was in her blood to do the 'unchieval' – well at least that's what Uncle Chase always said whenever she did something that she really wasn't allowed to. It's in her blood!

Leaving her other uncle Charlie – though he really couldn't be her uncle cos he was actually ten days younger than her – near his mother playing with the leaves under the big tree, she set off for that huge contraption that she was now going to conquer on her own. She didn't need her Mummy or Daddy's help with this!

Scrambling up the three little bars, she gripped the frame as she looked up at the monkey bars. They were a lot further away than she had thought they would be.

Looking around from her high perch she saw her mother talking with Aunty Fiona. They were probably talking about the baby – that's all they did these days. She wished her brother would hurry up and arrive and then she'd be able to play with him. He wasn't much fun when he was stuck in Mummy's tummy. All he did was move around and kick alot.

Daddy, Uncle Chase and Grandpa were playing with a ball nearby. She'd played a bit before, but she'd snuck away from them to accomplish her mission.

Nodding her head in determination, she gingerly let one hand go to brush back the blonde strands that had fallen into her face and blocked her view. Task complete she took a big breath.

Standing on her tippy-toes she stretched up one hand and tried to grab the first bar, but it was just a little too far. Determined to reach it, she slid her hand out just that little bit further as her hand brushed the bar but couldn't manage a grip.

_Uh oh._ That was the last thing she thought as she lost her balance and tumbled off the bars ...

... and straight into the strong arms of her father.

Looking up at the face of her Daddy she grinned and bracketed his cheeks. The fact that she had almost tumbled to the ground was long forgotten as shifted in her saviour's grip and brought herself upright. The bars were now within in reach.

'Up Daddy. Up!'

*****************

An hour later Dean Gallagher rolled his eyes at another of his daughter's antics. He had been comfortable lying on the picnic rug, with his head propped on his wife's outstretched legs, when Joey had made her sudden arrival known by plonking herself on his chest, seriously winding him.

She'd patted him on the chest and demanded imperiously that they were going to the playground now, before she'd sprinted off, not waiting for his answer.

Grunting as he brings himself upright, he turns to his much younger brother. 'Want to go to the playground again Charlie?'

'No thanks,' was the quiet response, the boy happy to go back to big book he was currently reading.

Now on his knees, he turns to the grinning Lara. 'Duty calls.'

'Just like her mother,' he responded, giving her a quick kiss before scrambling up to get out of hitting range, but not quickly enough as he found his butt swatted. Flashing the love of his life a cheeky grin, he then turned his attention to the little runaway.

Seeing his little ragamuffin almost to the playground, he made his way over. Watching Joey climb the ladder to the slide with no fear he marvelled that it really was in the blood. Their baby girl was afraid of nothing.

Joey could be a handful – never sitting still for long and forever active – and she was never in the same spot. This made for constant vigilance (as who knew what she was up to and where they were going to find her) but he wouldn't have it any other way.

Just yesterday she had accompanied him to the station for a short visit. In those few seconds that he had turned away from her and spoken with Vince, his little monster had made her way over to a patrol truck and scrambled up the bull bar.

It had been Heidi's laugh that had alerted him to the situation, and he'd then picked up his daughter off the bonnet, dragging her imminent grip away from the windscreen wipers. But of course, she'd scrambled around in his arms and wanted to be put down. As soon as her feet were on the ground, she was off again, no doubt looking for her next adventure.

She really was a Joey. She'd been born Imogen Garnet Gallagher, but Chase had nicknamed her Joey just days after she was born when he'd been carrying his daughter's small form in a little pouch on his chest and showing her off at the station. The name had stuck.

'Daddy!' called a distressed voice as he snapped back to the present. In his few short minutes of reminiscing, Joey had climbed beyond the slide and onto the framework holding up the contraption. She was now hanging on to it for dear life, unable to get herself out of this dilemma.

_That girl did not know her limits! _he mused as he made his way over to rescue his little girl.

What could he say? It was in the blood.


End file.
